“Then do so.”
“No.—You have done evil enough to justify such a man as I am in trampling on every moral prejudice, on all laws human and divine, and trusting to a weapon to execute justice. But....”
“But....” said Leon mimicking his brother-in-law’s tone. “Speak, my dear fellow; speak and think frankly, as I do when I say: ‘I hate you.’”
“Nay. My principles do not allow me to say, ‘I hate you;’ but, ‘I pity you.’ Not, ‘I will kill you;’ but ‘God will kill you!’”
“Then do not speak in accordance with your principles; adopt some others for the nonce—try mine.”
“If I did I should place myself in antagonism to all law, human and divine. But to conclude: a duel is out of the question, because in this case every advantage would be on my side. In the first place: I am right and you are wrong; you are the criminal and I the judge; and by all the laws of logic I am the conqueror and you are the vanquished. In the second place: I am skilled in the use of every kind of weapon, having for the sake of my health kept myself in constant practice by shooting at a mark and fencing; while you, who have given your whole time to the study of physics and geology, cannot handle either a pistol or a sword. So that even on the ground of brute force I must be the conqueror. In spite of all this, much as it may surprise you....”
“You forgive me!” exclaimed Leon controlling his rage to indulge his sarcasm. “Thanks—a thousand thanks—with your elephant-load of ‘laws human and divine.’”
“I do not forgive you,” said the other putting all the dramatic emphasis he could command into his fine deep voice. “In renouncing the advantages I have over you I simply renounce the task of punishing you with my own hand, and deliver you over to the arm of God, which is already raised to strike you.”
“Again many thanks,” repeated Leon but his irony was not unmixed with anger. “You are no doubt God’s high sheriff. It is, I presume to your familiarity with God, whose apostle you are, that you owe your knowledge of his high purposes and your certainty of divine justice.”